A longitudinal study of brain atrophy over two years in community-dwelling older individuals

• Published in: NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Vol. 86; pp. 203 - 211
• Main Authors: Jiang, Jiyang, Sachdev, Perminder, Lipnicki, Darren M., Zhang, Haobo, Liu, Tao, Zhu, Wanlin, Suo, Chao, Zhuang, Lin, Crawford, John, Reppermund, Simone, Trollor, Julian, Brodaty, Henry, Wen, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier Inc 01.02.2014; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Age; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging - pathology; Atrophy - pathology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - pathology; Brain research; Cerebral Cortex - pathology; Cortical thickness; Dementia; Education; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Longitudinal; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Mens health; NMR; Non-demented; Nuclear magnetic resonance; Organ Size; Scanners; Sex Factors; Studies; Subcortical volume; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Womens health; Non-demented; Subcortical volume; Cortical thickness; Longitudinal; Magnetic resonance imaging; Atrophy; Central nervous system; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Encephalon
• ISSN: 1053-8119; 1095-9572
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.08.022

Most previous neuroimaging studies of age-related brain structural changes in older individuals have been cross-sectional and/or restricted to clinical samples. The present study of 345 community-dwelling non-demented individuals aged 70–90years aimed to examine age-related brain volumetric changes over two years. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained at baseline and at 2-year follow-up and analyzed using the FMRIB Software Library and FreeSurfer to investigate cortical thickness and shape and volumetric changes of subcortical structures. The results showed significant atrophy across much of the cerebral cortex with bilateral transverse temporal regions shrinking the fastest. Atrophy was also found in a number of subcortical structures, including the CA1 and subiculum subfields of the hippocampus. In some regions, such as left and right entorhinal cortices, right hippocampus and right precentral area, the rate of atrophy increased with age. Our analysis also showed that rostral middle frontal regions were thicker bilaterally in older participants, which may indicate its ability to compensate for medial temporal lobe atrophy. Compared to men, women had thicker cortical regions but greater rates of cortical atrophy. Women also had smaller subcortical structures. A longer period of education was associated with greater thickness in a number of cortical regions. Our results suggest a pattern of brain atrophy with non-demented people that resembles a less extreme form of the changes associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). •Longitudinal MRIs were carried out in 345 community-dwelling subjects aged 70–90.•Atrophy rates of some brain structures accelerated with age.•Increase of middle frontal regions compensated for medial temporal atrophy.•Women had thicker but faster declining cortices than men.